Photo of the Week

On the lighter side of happiness from the Golden Days of the Canal Zone this week. This photo was in the bundle of photos that I purchased at the Panama Canal Society reunion this past July and what I call the Bliss Collection. This photo is a super unique photo and could be one of a kind as it was taken by the photographer out of a Administration Building office window. The photo shows what may be quitting time for the day as there are people making their way out and towards the parking lot, bus or car picking them up. I love the old buses staged to pick up passengers. The bus next to the building has "Kobbe" showing in it's letter board as it's destination. I am not sure why or how many of those working in the Admin. Building lived in Kobbe...curious. The bus company logo is "CTS" painted on the side of the bus. This photo is early 1950 vintage as the cream and black color cars at the building entrance are 1952-1954 Ford Customline 4 door sedans. I used to own this model car back in the day and loved that old car. When I first saw the cream color car, I thought it was the car I owned, but it has a newer front end than my 1952 model had. More like the black one shown. Looking across and in the windows of the top floor, you can see the old and probably original incandescent ceiling lights.

I used to frequent the Admin. building digging through the file cabinets in the basement that held the old glass Canal Construction day negatives. I would spend hours there and when I found ones that I wanted copies of, I would go over to the Graphics Branch, also in the basement and order prints made. One day I was leaving the building and found a bunch of people standing outside by the entrance. I stopped and asked them what was going on. One guy told me that John Wayne was coming to visit the Governor. Of course, I joined the waiting crowd. Sure enough, about 15 minutes passed and a large black limousine pulled up in front of the building. The Duke himself got out of the rear seat and stared at everyone staring at him. He put his arms out and said, "Well?", in that familiar John Wayne voice and everyone started clapping and cheering. What a day....

Good photo and good memories.